o the Muscogulgee, "Thou hast undertaken a fearful
thing, and one which I warn thee will require much and deep thought
and caution, and great valour and wisdom. Thou shalt have my aid and
counsel, but they may not avail so much as thine own steadiness of
soul, and strength of arm. Nevertheless, I will give thee a charm, a
potent charm, and see thou rememberest my directions for its use."

So saying, he drew forth from his basket of amulets the skin of a
mountain cat, in which was a medicine, compounded of those powerful
substances which nature furnishes, to enable men to acquire command
over their own and the inferior species. There were the vine which
never bore fruit, the dry cones of the pine, steeped in the dew that
drops from the leaves of the mountain-laurel, the claws of the tiger,
the teeth of the alligator, the thighbone of the tortoise, and the
ribs of the snail, reduced to a powder, and mixed up with water
dropped from the shell of the butternut, through the ochre of war. The
wise master of the spell had drawn from field, and forest, earth, air,
and water, from beast and bird, and fish and reptile, and insect and
tree, and flower and fruit, all the various properties which have an
agency in subduing things to the will of him, to whom those properties
have been taught. From these he had compounded a medicine, the mighty
power of which was unknown even to himself. Placing this amulet in
the hands of the wondering youth, he bade him remember to repeat aloud
the following words, and in the following manner, should he deem there
was occasion for its use. "I am lost! I am lost! save me! save me! In
the name of the seven men that were bewildered in a foggy morning, and
cooked for the breakfast of the Kind Old Kings, I call upon thee,
Maiden in Green, to protect me from the like fate." The youthful lover
received the sacred amulet, with all the reverence which it ought to
inspire, and, before the great star of day had sunk to sleep behind
the hills of the west, he had slung his bow and quiver to his
shoulder, and taken up the line of his march to the fated valley.

Travelling onward with great expedition, he came near the close of the
next day to the entrance of the eventful spot. He saw the high
mountains covered with mossy rocks, and tall cedars, and pines, and
beheld the "lofty forms, whose heads stretched far into the sky," and
heard the sounds which proceeded from their lips, the soft whispers of
love, the loud